Something He Never Had
by Sidhlairiel
Summary: AU 5th yr. Harry is spending the summer after 4th yr. at Hogwarts. A few other professors, including Snape, are there too. Snape accidentally deages himself...Dumbledore decides that Harry should be his guardian...better sum. inside
1. Chapter 1: A Deaged Potion's Master

**Something He Never Had**

By: Mischief-Manager06 

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…unfortunately. All that belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own the plot…that's it. Yeah.

Summary: AU 5th year. Harry is staying at Hogwarts for summer vacation. Professors McGonagal, Dumbledore, Snape, and Madame Pomfrey are there as well. After making an accident while brewing a potion, Professor Snape is turned into a five year old. Dumbledore makes the wise decision of choosing someone to be the deaged man's guardian. Who does he choose? Harry, of course. The teen's not too thrilled about the idea…but what happens when he starts to feel attached to the potion's master?

A/N: Okay. I really, _really_hope everyone likes this story. It's the first piece of fan fiction I've written, so I'm sorry if it's horrible. Please review…flames are welcome…they might be ignored…but they're welcome.

Chapter One: A Deaged Potion's Master 

Harry Potter clamored out of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room and headed to the Great Hall, practically skipping. He was three weeks into summer vacation, which had, so far, been going great. Just two weeks after he returned to the Dursley's, Professor Dumbledore had shown up in the backyard, scaring Aunt Petunia, who had been spying on the neighbors, half to death.

Harry had hoped that the old wizard was there to take him to the Burrow where he would spend the rest of the summer. Unfortunately, the Weasley family was visiting Ron's older brother, Charlie, in Romania. Hermione was traveling as well, and Sirius and Remus were tending to important business for Dumbledore. The headmaster had, however, given Harry the option of staying with the Dursley's or coming to Hogwarts. Naturally, the fifteen year old had immediately replied that he could be packed in five minutes…he managed to complete the task in four though. After a quick goodbye to his er, ever-so-caring relatives, the two had taken a portkey to Hogwarts.

As he entered the huge dining hall, Harry surveyed the room quickly before taking his usualseat in front of Dumbledore and diagonal from McGonagal. He was disappointed to see that Madam Pomfrey wasn't there. He had become quite fond of the nurse, and they had both taken to having in depth discussions aboutdifferent methods of magical healing, which Harry found interesting. Getting over his disappointment, he greeted the two professors that _were _there.

"Good morning Albus," he said cheerfully "Minerva."

The first few days after his arrival, both of them and Pomfrey (he now called her Poppy) had insisted that Harry call them by their first names.

"Good morning, Harry," Minerva and Albus replied simultaneously.

As Harry piled food onto his plate, he noticed, relieved and happily surprised, that the only other staff member that had stayed at the school wasn't there. Professor Snape was spending his vacation at Hogwarts, too, and he was the only adult there that Harry hadn't gotten close to. In fact, he'd grown to dislike the potion's master even more, if that was possible. Thankfully, the man had seemed to try his hardest to avoid the teenager, and vice versa.

Taking his mind off the greasy git, Harry enjoyed a nice breakfast with Albus and Minerva, chatting about this and that. They alwayskept the conversation light at meals.For those short periods of times, Harry couldget his mind off the fact that, only a few weeks ago, a raging, maniacal, evil, andcruelmurderer had risen from the dead and wasnow after his blood.

Harry finished breakfast, and just as he was getting up to leave, thinking of going out to the Quidditch pitch, Albus called him back.

"Harry," the aged wizard said, "I would be eternally grateful if you would be so kind as to do me a favor."

He had a strange look in his twinkling blue eyes. Harry knew that look. He also had a good idea of what was coming. _Please don't ask me to go get Snape, _he thought silently.

"I need to see Severus about something. Would you go get him please?"

_Crap._

"Oh, sure Albus. I'll go get him," Harry mumbled.

Turning, once again, to leave, he caught Minerva's glance and gave her a look as if to say_ Why must my day be ruined like this? _She admonished him with aslight glare,but he saw the corners of her mouth quirk up just a little bit.

* * *

Harry made the trek down to the dungeons as slowly as possible. As he finally entered the dark, damp hallway that led to Snapes's classroom, he began talking to himself. He did that quite a lot when he was annoyed…or mad…or nervous…or bored. 

"Who wants a classroom down in the dungeons anyway?" he muttered under his breath. "I mean, they're dark, dingy, gross, cold, and they stink. There are plenty of other available rooms that have a much more amiable atmosphere. Snape's room is almost as bad as Treylawney's. At least her's has windows. Then again, I suppose it fits his character. Slimy, depressing, and creepy."

By the time Harry finished his rant, he had reached the classroom of doom. (Dun Dun DUN!) He knocked on the door a couple of times, and received no answer. He tried again, and got the same results. After a good five minutes, he decided just to walk in.

"Professor Snape, Albus— oh Merlin!" he cried upon entering the classroom, which was in complete disarray.

The walls were covered in a suspicious looking orange liquid, shelves were hanging lopsided, and jars were broken. Harry surveyed the room in shock, and tried to find Professor Snape. He didn't see him, and made his way over the source of what he supposed was a badly brewed potion: a smoking cauldron in the corner. He was inspecting what little of the potion was left, when he spotted something leaning against one of the desks. Walking over to it, he realized that it was a pile of robes. There was some sort of lump underneath them, and they were covered in little spots of the orange substance. Tentatively, Harry reached out and lifted the folds of the robes. He finally uncovered the lump, and when he saw what it was, his eyes almost bulged out of his head.

"Bloddy hell!" he whispered, horrified.

Lying there, obviously unconscious, was a boy. Harry estimated that he was about five years old. He had soft, shaggy black hair that came just to the middle of his ears. His face was thin and extremely pale, and his expression…his expression was oddly familiar. Harry's eyes grew even bigger, if possible, and he gasped as he realized who the kid was. The smirk that was placed on that face was unmistakable. This was Professor Snape.

_Oh no! _Harry thought frantically. _What do I do? Think, think, think…Albus! Of course. He'll know what to do! _He was in the process of picking up the boy, but thought better of it as he eyed the orange potion splattered on the robes. He definitely didn't want to know what it would do to him. So, taking out his wand and muttering a quick "Mobilicorpus", he hurried towards Albus' office, Snape's body floating behind him. By the time he reached the gargoyle, he was completely out of breath.

"C-chocolate Frogs," he panted, hopind that Albus hadn't changed the password without telling him...again.

The gargoyle leapt aside, and Harry went up the spiraling staircase to the big doors that led to the office. In his haste, he forgot politeness, and burst in the room. Albus was sitting at his desk, bent over a pile of papers, quill in hand. He didn't look up as the pair entered.

"Ah, Severus," he mumbled, scribbling something down, "I see Harry brought you my message. Please have a seat. I'll only be a moment my boy."

"Um, Albus," Harry began nervously, "we have a bit of a problem."

At the sound of the teen's voice, Albus looked up questioningly.When he saw the unconscious child hovering behind Harry, he dropped the quill he was holding, and simply stared at the boy in shock. Since the headmaster seemed to be rather speechless, Harry decided to explain what happened.

"You see sir, I went to his classroom and he didn't answer when I knocked," he said, and Albus, getting over his shock, nodded at him to continue. "Well, I decided to go ahead in, and the room was a complete disaster. Things were broken, and there was a lot of orange potion on the walls. Sna-I mean Professor Snape was laying next to a cauldron, covered in the potion. From what I can tell, he accidentally deaged himself."

Albus looked thoughtful as Harry finished his explanation. After a few minutes of silence, he suddenly clapped his hands together and jumped up, practically scaring Harry senseless.

"Well, there's only one solution I can think of, and that's to take him to Poppy. I'm quite sure she'll be able to find out what happened to the potion he was making," he said, his expression half amused half worried. "Let's go. We haven't a minute to lose. This could be serious."

* * *

"Albus, I'm sorry. I just don't know what this potion is," Poppy said apologetically. 

The nurse had examined Snape twice, and both times she hadn't come up with anything.

"It's okay Poppy. You did your best," Albus sighed. "Can you at least tell us if the potion could be harmful to Severus in any way?"

He looked down at the sleeping child in concern. Severus had grown to be like a son to him, and if anything bad happened to the man...

"I don't think so, but nothing's impossible," Poppy replied. "The way I see it, you have two options. We can research and try to find the cure, or we can just wait until the potion wears off. If this potion is the same as most deaging potions, judging by the amount he got on him, that should be around Christmas."

Albus mulled the choices over. He looked over at Harry, who had been forced to stay by Poppy. She wanted to check him to make sure he hadn't ingested any of the potion.An ideamade its way intoAlbus's brain. Nodding decisively, he turned back to the nurse.

"Poppy, I believe it is best to just let the potion run its course. Severus will remain a child, and we'll all help take care of him," Albus paused here, to, once again,look down at the five-year-old fondly. "However, one person will be his official guardian. I would take on the roll, but I'm afraid I'm too busy to give the child the proper care he needs."

Turning to Harry, Albus smiled at the teen, who had resorted to cleaning his glasses as a way to stop his boredom.

"So," he cried brightly, "that job will go to Harry."

Well…that certainly got Harry's attention.

End of Chapter One

A/N: Well, there's chapter one. I hope you liked it. It seemed boring to me as I wrote it, but I think the story will get more exciting in the following chapters. Sorry it took so long to finish it. I've been kind of busy…and I tend to procrastinate. Review please! I'll give you pie! Thanks

Chapter Two-- How does Harry react to being named guardian? Also, a secret about Snape is revealed that just might change Harry's thoughts about him.


	2. Chapter 2: The Day Albus Dumbledore

Something He Never Had

By: Mischief-Manager06

I still don't own Harry Potter…

Summary: Has Dumbledore finally lost it? Harry sure thinks so. Needless to say, he isn't too happy about being made Snape's guardian. Nothing's going to change that…or so he thinks.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! All of you get pie! I've heard that you can get in trouble for responding to all your reviews at the beginning of the chapter, so I won't. If I'm wrong about that, someone please correct me. Thanks!

Chapter Two: The Day Albus Dumbledore Finally Lost It

"_What!" _Harry cried, shooting up off the bed he'd been sitting on.

Albus chose to ignore the exclamation and returned his attention to Poppy.

"You will alert us if Severus wakes up, of course?" he asked, and upon receiving a nod of affirmation, he began walking towards the infirmary door. "Come along, Harry," he said motioning for the teen to follow him.

Harry complied and followed the man out of the room, all the while giving him a death glare that would have made the Dark Lord shake in his boots…well, his…what kind of shoes does Voldemort wear anyway? The glare, of course, didn't faze Albus a bit. The pair did not go to Albus's office as Harry had expected. Instead, the headmaster led Harry outside. They walked in silence for a moment, but Harry couldn't keep quiet for long.

"Albus, are you mad?" he exclaimed, suddenly, stopping just in front of the lake.

"No Harry, though you're not the first to ask me that," Albus replied, smiling slightly, "I'm sure I'm quite sane."

"This is Snape we're talking about!" Harry continued ranting, pacing back and forth, and coming dangerously close to walking straight into the lake. "He hates me, in case you haven't noticed, and I'm not too fond of him, either. I'm sorry Albus. I know you care about him a lot, but there's no way I can possibly look after him. I mean, five years old or not, I doubt I'll be able to look at him without seeing my adult potion's professor glaring at me and trying to make my life a living hel—I mean bad place."

As mad as he was, Harry couldn't bring himself to curse in front of Albus. _Besides, _he thought, _I'm sure I've already made him mad enough. He hates it when I talk badly about Snape. _However, to Harry's great surprise, Albus didn't seem angry at all. In fact, the expression on his face was one of sadness, and the twinkle in his eyes was somewhat dimmed. Harry looked at him in confusion, but despite his yearning to know what was wrong, kept quiet. After what seemed like hours, Albus sighed tiredly.

"Harry," he began, "there's something you need to know about Severus." He brought his hands together and drummed his fingers against one another, as if debating how to continue. Harry leaned forward, eager to hear whatever Albus was about to say.

"Severus's childhood," the wizard continued, "was not one of happiness. The Snape family, as I'm sure you can imagine, was full of dark witches and wizards. His parents were, quite possibly, the most evil ones of all. They were both Death Eaters and quite loyal to Lord Voldemort. When Severus was born, the two were pleased to see that the family name would continue on. Of course, they planned for him to grow up believing that Voldemort was who he was meant to follow. They wanted him to become a Death Eater by the time he was sixteen.

"However, as Severus became older, he began to think that his parents were wrong about things. For some reason—one I have yet to find out--he went against what they taught him, and he didn't want to be a follower of Lord Voldemort."

Harry's eyes widened, and he gasped softly at this revelation. Snape hadn't wanted to become a Death Eater? He focused back on Albus's story.

"This naturally didn't please his parent's at all. They became very abusive. His father would beat him regularly, while his mother preferred to curse him with dark spells. They also threatened him, and told him that if he didn't change his way of thinking the beatings would get worse." Albus stopped and closed his eyes briefly. "That, Harry, is why he was in Slytherin. That's why he became a Death Eater. That's why he is the way he is."

Harry was shocked to say the least as Albus finished. He didn't know what to say. He never would have guessed that Severus Snape was abused as a child. That really did explain a lot.

"So, what made him decide to come back to Light?" Harry asked.

"He'd simply had enough," Albus replied. "He came to my office one evening after a particularly brutal attack and asked for my forgiveness. He even volunteered to be a spy for us."

The elderly man looked at Harry solemnly. "I trusted him then, Harry. I still trust him. You may not be fond of the adult Severus, but the child lying in the Hospital Wing needs you. We don't know whether he'll recall his childhood or not. Even if he doesn't, this experience will be hard for him. Now, I'll leave you out here to think it over. You don't have to be Severus's guardian if you don't want to, but, please, mull over what I've told you."

With that, Albus turned around and walked away, leaving Harry by himself. Harry turned to face the lake and sighed. He didn't know what to do. When Albus had first led him outside, his plan had been to adamantly refuse to be Snape's guardian. Now, however, he was beginning to rethink his decision. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

'_Oh come on!' _he thought to himself. _'Think what would happen when he changes back into an adult! He'd hate me even more'. _

_**'Or' **_said a little voice in his head**, _'he might be eternally grateful to you for pushing your hatred for him aside and looking after him.' _**

_'Oh, don't be ridiculous! Like he'd ever be grateful for something I did to help him.' _

_**'Think about it!' **_the annoying voice yelled. **_'This is your chance. Your chance to give him a good childhood. Something he never had. Something you never had.' _**

_'I don't know…' _

_**'Admit it. Deep down inside you really want to give him all the things he should have had growing up.' **_

_'Well, maybe…' _Harry thought, giving in slightly.

**_'So go on!' _**the voice snapped. **_'Give him what his parents didn't give him. Give him what the Dursley's didn't give you, and while you're at it, have some fun yourself.' _**

_'You're right!' _Harry cried.

Standing up, his decision made, he turned to walk back to the castle, but stopped after only a couple of steps.

"I just argued with a voice in my head," he muttered. "The voice won. I didn't even know there was a voice up there!"

Shaking his head slightly, he continued to walk back to the castle, a small smile playing on his lips. This was going to be one interesting summer.

**A/N: Once again, sorry it took so long to update! Hopefully chapter 3 will be up much sooner. Also, I'm sorry that it was so short...following chapters will be longer. **

**Next Chapter: Harry tells Albus his decision, and Severus wakes up. What will his and Harry's reaction be to one another? Is Harry too young to be a guardian? Is Severus too broken by his past to accept a guardian? **

**R&R!...pretty please?**


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